René van Zuuk (born 3 September 1962, in

Doesburg Doesburg () is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Gelderland. Doesburg received city rights in 1237 and had a population of in . The city is situated on the right bank of river IJssel, at the confluence of ...

) is a Dutch

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. René van Zuuk studied building production technology at the

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...

, where he graduated in 1988. Directly after receiving his engineering diploma, he started working at the office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in London and Chicago (1988–1989). In 1989 he won the competition “Ongewoon wonen II” (Unusual living II) in

Almere Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer. Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprise ...

, with the design for his own house “Psyche”. After realising the project in 1993, René van Zuuk started his own architectural office in

. In 2002 van Zuuk was shortlisted for the

Netherlands Architecture Institute The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) was a cultural institute for architecture and urban development, which comprised a museum, an archive plus library and a platform for lectures and debates. The NAI was established in 1988 and was ba ...

award for the best building by a young Dutch architect. In the past sixteen years, his office, René van Zuuk Architekten bv, has created a portfolio with a large variety of designs. Underlying in all the designs is the continuous search for methods to create a building as interesting as possible, with minimised costs. René van Zuuk's aim is to unite a maximised degree of ‘particularity’ of the final product with simplicity in manufacturing. The main principles behind the designs can be place in three categories, structure, production technology and construction. The Arcam building is a direct result from transforming blob architecture into well thought-out architecture that is based on production methods. De Verbeelding is derived from construction methods used by the first farmers on the new lands of Flevoland. Block 16 is a result of playing with Dutch construction principles.

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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuuk, Rene Van 1962 births Living people People from Doesburg 20th-century Dutch architects 21st-century Dutch architects